The papers I know of study an [Amplitude] Modulation Transfer
Function, which measures the neural firing rate for given rates of
sinusoidal AM imposed on a fixed-frequency carrier. (There are also
measurements of the degree of phase-locking, and measurements using
square-wave AM.) Since different sinusoidal AM rates are somewhat
like different onset rates, they may be what you want.
For instance, the first paper below plots neural responses to a
carrier which was amplitude-modulated at rates of 2-11 Hz, finding the
strongest response around 5 Hz. The latter would be the "Best
[Amplitude] Modulation Frequency." Other papers find neurons with
BMF's up to roughly 1 kHz, suggesting that this may be part of a pitch
mechanism.
The best place I know of to start would be
@incollection{
author = "Christoph E. Schreiner and Gerald Langner",
title = "Coding of Temporal Patterns in the Central Auditory Nervous
System",
booktitle = "Auditory Function",
publisher = WILEY,
year = 1988,
editor = "G. M. Edelman and W. E. Gall and W. M. Cowan",
chapter = 11,
pages = "337-361",
address = WILEY_ADDRESS,
}
Other useful papers would be these:
@article{
author = "Christoph E. Schreiner and J. V. Urbas",
title = "Representation of Amplitude Modulation in the Auditory
Cortex of the Cat, parts I and II."
journal = "Hearing Research"
year = 1986 (part I) 1988 (part II)
volume = 21 32
pages = 227-241 49-64
}
@article{
author = "Christoph E. Schreiner and Gerald Langner",
title = "Periodicity Coding in the Inferior Colliculus of
the Cat, parts I and II."
journal = "Journal of Neurophysiology",
year = 1988,
volume = 60,
number = 6,
pages = "1799-1840",
month = dec,
}
If these don't help, you might ask Chris Schreiner,
who works at U. C. San Francisco.
Dave Mellinger
dkm1@cornell.edu
607-254-2431